MRS. VAN TRUDER INTRUDES
None but the most eager, loving eyes could possibly have recognised the
newcomers. It is not unlikely that the remaining passengers mistook
them for tramps. The rivals, morbidly suspicious of each other,
taciturn to the point of unfriendliness, had indeed chartered a
locomotive--not jointly by intention, but because of provoking
necessity. There was but one engine to be had. It is safe to say that
while they travelled many sore and turbulent miles in close proximity
to each other, neither felt called upon to offer or to demand an
explanation.
Five hours in the tender of an engine had done much to reduce them to
the level of the men in the cab, so far as personal appearance was
concerned. They were still wearing their raincoats, much crumpled and
discoloured; their faces were covered with coal dust; they were wet,
bedraggled, and humble to the last degree. The American, naturally, was
the one who clung to his suitcase; he had foreseen the need for a
change of linen. They came toward the train with hesitating, uncertain
steps. If their souls were gladdened by the sight of the two young
women, general appearances failed to make record of it. It was noted by
those who watched their approach that once both of them stopped short
and seemed to waver in their determination to advance. That was when
each became suddenly aware of the presence of an unexpected girl.
Naturally, the Englishman was seriously staggered. The unexplained
Eleanor appeared before his very eyes as an accusing nemesis; it is no
wonder that his jaw dropped and his befuddled brain took to whirling.
The girls, less regardful of appearances, climbed down from the
platform and started forward to meet their knights-errant. The reader
may readily appreciate the feelings of the quartette. Not one of them
knew just precisely how much or how little the others knew; they were
precariously near to being lost in the labyrinth. Something intangible
but regular urged Windomshire to be politic; he advanced to meet
Eleanor as if it were her due. Anne fell back, perplexed and hurt.
"Hang it all," thought Joe, rage in his heart, "he beat me to her,
after all. He'll be enough of a damned ass to try to kiss her before
all these people, too." Whereupon, he closed his eyes tightly. When he
opened them, Miss Courtenay was walking beside him and asking questions
about the weather. Her cheeks were very pink. Windomshire had awkwardly
clasped the hand of Miss Thursdale, muttering something not quite
intelligible, even to himself. Eleanor was replying with equal
blitheness.
"How nice of you to come. Where are you going?"
"Surprised, are you?" he was floundering. "Charmed. Ha, ha! By Jove,
Eleanor--er--I heard you were booked by this train and I--I tried to
catch it for a bit of a ride with you. I missed it, don't you know.
I'll--I'll wager you don't know what I did in my desperation."
"I couldn't guess," she said, trying to catch Joe's eye.
"I hired a private engine, 'pon my word, and then telegraphed ahead to
stop this train!"
"Di--did you do that?" she gasped, forgetting that the bridge was out.
Dauntless, meantime, was trying to explain to Miss Courtenay. She
already had told him that her aunt was ill in Vancouver, and he had
smiled politely and aimlessly.
"I'm on my way to M----. Sudden trip, very important," he was saying.
"Missed the train--I dare say it was this one--so I took an engine to
follow up. Had to ride in the tender."
"It must have been important," she ventured.
"It was. I--" then with an inspired plunge--"I was due at a wedding."
"How unfortunate! I hope you won't miss it altogether."
Joe caught his breath and thought: "Now what the devil did she mean by
that? Has Eleanor told her the whole story?"
It must not be supposed that these young persons were lacking in the
simpler gifts of intelligence; they were, individually, beginning to
put two and two together, as the saying goes. They were grasping the
real situation--groping for it, perhaps, but with a clear-sightedness
and acumen which urged that a cautious tongue was expedient. If the
duplicity was really as four-handed as it seemed, there could be no
harm in waiting for the other fellow to blunder into exposure. Nothing
could be explained, of course, until the conspirators found opportunity
to consult privately under the new order of assignment.
"How romantic!" Eleanor said, as she walked stiffly ahead with her
uncomfortable fiance.
"Eh?" was his simple remark. He was suddenly puzzled over the fact that
he HAD caught up to the train. There was something startling in that.
"Oh--er--not at all romantic, most prosaic. Couldn't get a coach. Been
here long?"
"Since five o'clock."
"I--I suppose you got up to see the sunrise."
"No, to see the river rise," she replied. "The bridge is gone." He was
silent for twenty paces, trying to recall what he had said about
telegraphing ahead.
"You don't mean it! Then I daresay they haven't got my telegram
stopping the train."
"How annoying!"
Dauntless had just said to Anne, in a fit of disgust: "Windomshire's
got a lot of nerve. That was my engine, you know. I hired it."
Windomshire went on to say, careful that Joe was quite out of hearing:
"Mr. Dauntless was quite annoying. He got into my engine without an
invitation, and I'm hanged if he'd take a hint, even after I hired a
stoker to throw a spadeful of coal over him. I don't know why he should
be in such a confounded hurry to get to--what's the name of the place?
I--er--I really think I must go and speak to Miss Courtenay, Eleanor.
She--er--looks ill."
"It's her grandmother who is ill--not she. But, yes! Please try to
cheer her up a bit, Harry. She's terribly upset."
"I'm sure she is," muttered he, dropping back with more haste than
gallantry. Mr. Dauntless sprang forward with equal alacrity, and wrong
was right a moment later.
"Joe dear," whispered Eleanor, "I've been nearly crazy. What happened?"
He was vainly trying to clasp her hand.
"Nell, he's on to us. I wish I knew just why Miss Courtenay is here.
Lord, I'll never forget that ride."
"It was just like you to take advantage of his engine."
"His engine!" exploded Joe, wrathfully. Securely separated from the
others, the elopers analysed the situation as best they could. Two
separate enterprises struggled earnestly for an outcome. On the
surface, the truth seemed plain enough: it was quite clear to both
parties that the extraordinary chain of coincidence was not entirely
due to Providence. There was something of design behind it all. The
staggering part was the calamitous way in which chance had handled
their dear and private affairs.
"He doesn't know that you were in my automobile," concluded Dauntless,
almost at the same time that a like opinion was being expressed by
Windomshire. "Are you willing to go on with it, Nell? Are you scared
out of it?"
"No, indeed," she exclaimed, perplexity leaving her brow. "At first I
feared he might have telegraphed to mother, but now I am sure he
hasn't. He was not following me at all. He is in love with Anne, and he
was surreptitiously off for a part of the distance with her. He really
doesn't want to marry me, you know."
"Well, he isn't going to, you see. By all that is holy, nothing shall
stop us now, dear. We'll go on to Omegon and carry out everything just
as we planned. If he's running off after another girl, it's time you
put an end to him. Don't give him a thought."
"Don't you think we'd better talk it over with Mr. Derby? He discreetly
disappeared when he saw it was you."
"Right! Let's hunt him out. By Jove, we can have him marry us right
here,--great!"
"No," she cried firmly, "it MUST be in a church." He could not move her
from that stand.
"Oh, if we could only get across that confounded river!" scolded Joe,
as they went off in search of Derby.
Windomshire was slowly reconciling himself to the fact that Eleanor
loved Dauntless, but he could not get it out of his head that she still
expected to marry as her mother had planned.
"See here, Anne, it's all very well to say that she loves Dauntless. Of
course she does. But that isn't going to prevent her from marrying me.
I don't believe she was running away with him, don't you know. He was
simply following her. That's the way these Americans do, you know. Now,
the question is, won't she think it odd that you and I should happen to
be doing almost the same thing?"
"To be sure she will," said Anne, coolly. "She has a very bad opinion
of me. I'm sure she doesn't believe you expect to marry me."
"By Jove, dear, it sounds rather dreadful, doesn't it?" he groaned.
"But of course you ARE going to marry me, so what's the odds? Then she
can marry Dauntless to her heart's content. I say, are we never to get
away from this beastly place?"
"They are to row us across the river in boats. We'll be taken up by
another train over there and carried on. Poor Mr. Dauntless, he looks
so harassed."
"By Jove, I feel rather cut up about him. He ought to have her, Anne.
He's a decent chap, although he was da--very unreasonable last night. I
like him, too, in spite of the fact that he kicked coal over me twice
in that confounded bin. He was good enough to take a cinder out of my
eye this morning, and I helped him to find his watch in the coal-bin. I
say, Anne, we might get a farm wagon and drive to some village where
there is a minister--"
"No, Harry! you know I've set my heart on being married in a church. It
seems so much more decent and--regular; especially after what has just
happened."
A porter appeared in the rear platform and shouted a warning to all
those on the ground.
"Get yo' things together. The boats'll be ready in ten minutes, ladies
and gen'l'men." The locomotive uttered a few sharp whistles to
reinforce his shouts, and everybody made a rush for the cars.
The conductor and other trainmen had all they could do to reassure the
more nervous and apprehensive of the passengers, many of whom were
afraid of the swollen, ugly river just ahead. Boats had been sent up
from a town some miles down the stream, and the passengers with their
baggage, the express, and the mail pouches were to be ferried across.
Word had been received that a makeshift train would pick them up on the
other side, not far from the wrecked bridge, and take them to Omegon as
quickly as possible.
It was also announced that the company would be unable to send a train
beyond Omegon and into the northwest for eight or ten hours, owing to
extensive damage by the floods. Repairs to bridges and roadbed were
necessary. In the meantime, the passengers would be cared for at the
Somerset Hotel in Omegon, at the company's expense. The company
regretted and deplored, etc.
There was a frightful clamour by the through passengers, threats of
lawsuits, claims for damage, execrations, and groans. In time, however,
the whole company went trooping down the track under the leadership of
the patient conductor. It was a sorry, disgruntled parade. Everybody
wanted a porter at once, and when he could not get one, berated the
road in fiercer terms than ever; men who had always carried their own
bags to escape feeing a porter, now howled and raged because there was
not an army of them on the spot. Everybody was constantly "damning" the
luck.
The conductor led his charges from the track through a muddy
stubble-field and down to a point where half a dozen small rowboats
were waiting among the willows. Dauntless and Eleanor were well up in
front, their faces set resolutely toward Omegon. For some well-defined
reason, Windomshire and Anne were the last in the strange procession.
The medical college agent, the tall and sombre Mr. Hooker, was the
first man into a boat. He said it was a case of life or death.
Eleanor looked backward down the long file of trailers, a little smile
on her lips.
"They are not all going away to be married, are they, Joe?" she said,
taking note of the unbroken array of sour countenances.
"It looks like a funeral, my dear. Look at the cadaverous individual
beside the con--Heavens, Nell, isn't that--by George, it is! It's old
Mrs. Van Truder! Back there about half-way--the fat one. See her? Good
Lord!"
Eleanor turned pale and the joyous light fled from her eyes.
"Oh, dear! I forgot that the Van Truders spend all their summers at
Omegon. And it is she--and he, too. Oh, Joe, it's just awful!"
"She's the worst old cat in town," groaned Dauntless. "We can't escape
her. She'll spot us, and she'll never let go of us. I don't mind him.
He's so near-sighted he couldn't see us. But she!"
"She will suspect, Joe--she's sure to suspect, and she'll watch us like
a hawk," whispered the distressed Eleanor. The Van Truders lived in the
same block with the Thursdales in town. "She'll telegraph to mother!"
"That reminds me," muttered Joe, looking at his watch. "I had hoped to
telegraph to your mother about this time."
"She will forgive us," said she, but she failed in her assumption of
confidence. As a matter of fact she felt that her mother would not
forgive.
"Well, you left a note pinned on your pillow," said he, as if that
covered all the sins.
"Yes, but it was directed to Miss Courtenay, asking her to break it
gently to mamma," said she, dismally.
They had reached the edge of the river by this time and others came up
with them. For a while they managed to keep out of old Mrs. Van
Truder's range of vision, but her sharp eyes soon caught sight of them
as they tried to slip into a boat that was already crowded to its full
capacity.
"Why, Eleanor Thursdale!" shouted the old lady, her aristocratic eyes
almost crossing in their stare of amazement.
"Discovered!" groaned Dauntless to the willows.
Mrs. Van Truder pounced upon Eleanor and, between personal questions
and impersonal reflections upon non-government railways, gave her a
dizzy quarter of an hour. She ignored Mr. Dauntless almost
completely,--quite entirely when she discovered Mr. Windomshire in the
background. Little old Mr. Van Truder, in his usual state of
subjection, was permitted to study the scenery at close range.
"I was so afraid you'd marry that horrid Dauntless fellow," whispered
Mrs. Van Truder. Eleanor gave vent to a constrained laugh.
"How perfectly preposterous!"
"When are you to be married, my dear?"
"At once--I mean, quite soon. Isn't the scenery beautiful, Mr. Van
Truder?" asked Eleanor in desperation.
"It's too far away. I can't see it," grumbled the old gentleman.
"He's so very near-sighted," explained his wife. "Do you expect to stay
long at the Somerset?"
"It all depends," said Eleanor, with a glance at Dauntless.
"Isn't that your governess with Mr. Windomshire? I can't be mistaken."
"Yes, she's going out to spend a few weeks with a rich aunt,--her
sister's mother, I think."
"How's that?" gasped the old lady.
"I mean her mother's sister."
"It sounded very strange, my dear."
"About the mother having a sister?" guessed old Mr. Van Truder,
sharply. "Seems all right to me."
"They are going to row us across the river," volunteered Eleanor,
helplessly.
"Good-morning, Mr. Windomshire," called Mrs. Van Truder. Windomshire
started and got very red in the face. Miss Courtenay's bow went
unnoticed by the old lady. In sheer despair, the Englishman turned to
Dauntless, a fellow-sufferer.
"I say, old man," he began nervously, "I'd like to ask a favour of you."
"Go ahead--anything I can do," said the other, blankly. Windomshire
continued in lowered tones:
"Deucedly awkward, but I forgot my bags at Fenlock. I see you've got
yours. Would you mind lending me a fresh shirt and a collar, old chap?"
"Gladly," cried Joe, very much relieved. "Will you take them now?"
starting to open his bag. Windomshire hastily interposed.
"I'd rather not, old chap. It's rather exposed here, don't you know.
Later on, if you please. Thanks, old man; I'll not forget this." They
shook hands without any apparent excuse.
"Mr. Windomshire!" called Mrs. Van Truder. He turned with a hopeless
look in his eyes. The two girls had misery and consternation plainly
stamped in their faces. "We can't all go over in the next boats, you
know. I've no doubt you and Miss Thursdale would not in the least mind
being left to the last," with a sly smile.
"Oh--er--ah, by Jove!" gasped Windomshire, with a glance at the still
faces of the young women. He saw no relief there.
"Blamed cat!" muttered Dauntless, gritting his teeth.
"Mr. Dauntless, will you and Miss Courtenay come with us in this boat?
I want some one to keep the snakes away; Mr. Van Truder can't see them,
you know."
There was no way out of it. Joe and Anne meekly followed the Van
Truders into the wobbly boat, resentment in their hearts, uncertainty
in their minds. They rowed away, leaving Windomshire and Eleanor
standing among the willows, ill at ease and troubled beyond expression.